intro to botanical art

8/12/2019 Intro to Botanical Art

1/17

www.ArtTutor.com 1

Malus Gorgeous Crab Apple Group

Botanical art depicts plants in a fairly tight manner. It is

pleasing to the eye and would grace the walls of anyhome.

Its very nature is time consuming, but enjoyable and theeffort spent on it is worthwhile.

The use of coloured pencil rather than watercolour in botanical art is a newer phenomenon, but becomingincreasingly popular

AN INTRODUCTIONTO BOTANICAL ART

MALUS GORGEOUS CRAB APPLEGROUPBy Gaynor Dickeson


2/17

Malus Gorgeous Crab Apple Group by Gaynor Dickeson

www.ArtTutor.com 2

A Word from Gaynor

I have been interested in botanical art since 2005. It is surprisinglyaddictive for someone who likes to paint in detail. I hope to get youequally addicted, but the most important thing is to enjoy yourself.

This guide is suitable for people of all levels of expertise, from theexperienced to those who have not used coloured pencil, or paintedplants before. The main thing is to be interested and want to usecoloured pencils in botanical art.

I will lead you through the materials you need and show you how to usethem. I will go through the intricate details in the picture I havepainted. If you follow my guidance, with practice you will be able topaint similar pictures or your own composition.

The picture is of Malus 'Gorgeous', a variety of crab apple with juicy redfruit. I have chosen to paint different stages from a year in the life of theplant, and included a dissected apple.

You may not want to paint botanically; you may prefer to just paintplants or other forms from nature. The techniques that I will show youare not specific to botanical art, but can be used in all detailed colourpencil painting.

Enjoy!


3/17


www.ArtTutor.com 3

An Introduction to Botanical Art

I am often asked about the difference between botanical art, botanical illustration and flowerpainting.

Botanical art is an artistic representation of plants.The aim is to create an aesthetically pleasingpicture of a specific plant, and although it can berecognized in detail, it may not stand up to scientificscrutiny.

Botanical illustration , on the other hand, is ascientifically accurate representation of plants,making it possible to identify the plant in question.

Its purpose is to help the identification of individualplant species.

Botanical art and illustration can cross over intoeach other, so that the results of both can beportrayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

Flower painting is a more general artisticrepresentation of flowers. Its results can be looserin form and produce purely beautiful pictures.

Such is the extent of precision required in botanicalart and illustration the judges scrutinise thepaintings with magnifying glasses! Now thatsnerve-wracking for the artists!

I love botanical art. Yes, its very time consuming, but although I have very little patience, I willhappily work on my paintings for hours at a time so if I can do it, so can you.

One of the most important things in botanical art isthe ability to observe. To produce an accuratepainting you must spend time looking at yoursubject. You need to see how leaves and flowersarise from a stem, how the various parts areattached to each other and, how the light falls andreflects from various parts of the plant. Also, thinkhow colours are put together in particular thegreen in leaves, or the colour changes that occur asa plant or part of it gets old and dies. Notehighlights and blemishes everything that gives

that particular plant character or attracts you to it.


4/17


5/17


www.ArtTutor.com 5

Getting Started

MaterialsColoured pencils are translucent, and it is this translucency thatenables you to layer and blend colours on your paper to achieve thefinal colour you want.

For botanical art in general, I use the dry variety of pencil and a basicset of 22 carefully chosen colours. Some people manage with fewer thanthis and others use more. I have given the names of the pencils I used inthe picture. Each picture you paint will help you to extend yourcollection of colours. Ive built up my coloured pencil collection overtime and have a whole host of different colours and brands to choosefrom.

Faber-Castell Polychromos FC101 white FC103 ivory FC102 cream FC184 dark naples FC118 scarlet red FC142 madder FFC133 magenta FC193 burnt carmine FC225 dark red

FC123 fuchsia FC134 crimson FC139 light violet (limited

availability)

FC138 violet FC170 may green FC168 earth green

yellowish FC172 earth green FC173 olive green FC174 chrome green

opaque FC278 chrome green

oxide FC179 bistre FC178 nougat FC175 dark sepia

Over time you might

want to build up acollection to rival mine!


6/17


www.ArtTutor.com 6

In addition to the pencils I would recommend in order of importance; Rotary pencil sharpener, Grey putty eraser, White plastic eraser, Eraser shield - for taking

out small mistakes without disturbing your work.

Embossing tools usedfor indenting the paperprior to painting as innarrow veins, very finehairs, or tiny stamens.

Soft brush or feather

(for dusting away loosepigment or eraser) Colourless wax blender. Used on the final stage of work, in areas

of the painting that might benefit from this i.e. shiny surfaces,edges of highlights etc.. Some textures will not benefit from

blending the colours as in the rough branch in this picture.

I work on hot pressed Fabriano Classico 5 paper. I cover the area Imnot working on with more paper to protect it from loose pigment anddropped pencils (yes dropped!). Skin oils in particular, even from well-

washed hands, can change the surface of the paper acting as a resist forthe coloured pencils. For this reason I also wear a cotton glove on myright hand with the fingertips cut off.

I expect that you will be aware of the danger of dropped pencils. Thepigment through the centre of the pencil can break and then it is uselessas you will be unable to get a long stable point for fine details.


7/17


www.ArtTutor.com 7

Set Up Wherever you decide to work, make sure youre sitting comfortably. You need a chair that supports your back well, as the nature of botanical art is such that you are likely to sit for long periods of time.

Make sure that the light is on the opposite side to your working hand, sothat you dont cast a shadow over your work. Keep your pencils andtools within easy reach so that you dont have to keep on stretching toget them.

Take regular and frequent breaks away from your work during the day.Be aware of your working position, as even something as basic ascrossing and uncrossing your legs can affect the angle and pressure of

your pencil on the paper.

I prefer to work on a slanted board or table easel. I keep my referencematerial close to my work area so I can glance between the two easily. Ifpractical, keep your reference material straight in front of you. Thiscuts the amount of head turning you will need and thus the strain on

your neck.

Working position is all-important.


8/17


www.ArtTutor.com 8

Reference Material Above all, your botanical art will be better if you work fromlife. This allows you to really

see your subject at all timesthroughout the development of

your picture.

A magnifying glass helps to seethe detail on the plant and alsoto check the neatness of youredges in the painting.

When youre setting up yoursubject, its best to have naturallight that comes in naturally

from the opposite side to your workinghand; if youre left-handed, light from theright and vice versa. At times you might

want to use a lamp, in which case daylight bulbs shining from the same side as thenatural light source wont change thecolour of your specimen too much, nor yourpainting.

As I have said, working from life is the idealin botanical art, but if youre working on something for months like I do, you can imagine how much your livingsubject will change and eventually wilt!

For this reason I take photographs andmake sketches of my initial set up, so thatI can work on the painting for a long time,changing leaves or flowers as they die. Insome instances, I have had to wait untilthe next season to get fresh spare parts!

As an example, I painted apicture of a savoy cabbage in

watercolour. As the cabbage began to smell, I got a newone. I used three in all. Youall know what rottingcabbage smells like, dont

you? Painting a beautifulpicture is not always

beautiful in the painting of it.


9/17


www.ArtTutor.com 9

TechniquesThere are many techniques in coloured pencil and each artist developstheir own. As a persons style of work begins to develop, so thetechnique in producing that style develops. No one technique is right or

wrong, it is the result that counts. Using coloured pencil for botanical

art, precision is important.

If you already use coloured pencils, as long as you observe the finedetails of a plant, and can portray them using your own technique. Thismeans you will be able to use coloured pencils in the same way younormally would use them.

This is how I generally work.

1. Work Dark to Light in Layers Working from dark to light is the opposite of watercolour. In watercolour you can intensify a colour by adding layers of thesame colour. But, with coloured pencil you cannot intensify acolour by either repeatedly layering or pressing extra hard. Istill find myself doing this occasionally and it never works.

The colour you see through the centre of the pencil is thecolour you will see on the paper and as I have just described,more layers of the same colour will not deepen it. Rememberthat coloured pencils are translucent and one takes advantageof this to create other darker or lighter colours. The first layer

of colour will shine through the next layer, so that optically you are creating a third colour.

In coloured pencil, you mix colours on your paper, not on yourpalette.

One of the main reasons for working from dark to light is thatlight colour pencils have more binder mixed in with thepigment than dark colours. The binder is normally wax or oil

based, depending upon the make. The more binder you applyto the paper in the form of light colour pencil, the less easy it is

to add darker colour on top. The lighter pencil can act as aresist. Therefore, one generally puts the dark layers on firstand the lighter layers last.

However, in some instances rules can be carefully broken. Youmight apply a very thin and gentle layer of pale colour to tonedown the next layer applied over it!

Observed highlights should be left as clean white paper.Nothing will be as white as the white of the paper. Nothing willpromote the intense contrast between a colour and white asthe white of the paper.


10/17


www.ArtTutor.com 10

2. Keep a Sharp PointBy keeping your pencils as sharp as possible, youre able to fillthe valleys in the uneven surface of the paper. It also helps youto have more control over your work. I use a rotary pencilsharpener and, if necessary, hone or dress it by rubbing the

side of the point on a piece of scrap paper.

3. Press Lightly and Apply the Colour in a Circular Motion All paper has some form of tooth, an uneven surface with valleys to fill and mountains to climb at least for the pigmentin your pencil. If you scoot across the surface of the paper with

your pencil sharp or blunt, you will not fill the valleys. Even with several layers of colour on top, you will see the white valleys underneath and you will have difficulty attaining asaturated colour. The intention is to fill the valleys too so thatthe resulting colour is rich.

When you apply the colour, therefore, do this lightly and work intiny circles to get an even coverage. If you press too heavily yourisk putting on too much pigment without filling the valleysproperly, the paper becomes impregnated too early and you will

be unable to add more colour. If you try to put on more colour atthis stage, either the pencil skids across the surface, pigment

builds up in lumps or you damage the paper.

4. Blend to Finish With coloured pencil you can create many types of finishes to better show the surface texture of your subject. In someinstances you may want a rough surface and for others a verysmooth one; equally these may be shiny or matt. You cancreate this effect by blending or not, as the case may be.

In the shiny crab apple, I needed to blend the colours, as there was a gradual transition between shades, highlights andshadows. You can do this by applying many layers of colour sothat the surface is effectively saturated with colour, or if youhavent quite got that far, by using a wax blender to gently

push the underlying pigment into the paper. There are several ways of doing this, but these are the two most common. Theresult is a rich colour.

The undersides of the leaves might not benefit too much fromheavy blending, as they are matt. The branches are mostlyrough and ready so that it is better to build up sufficient colourand texture and then leave them.


11/17


12/17


www.ArtTutor.com 12

Dissection

In botanical art it is not soimportant to include all aspects ofthe subject being painted as itdoesnt necessarily have to standup to scientific scrutiny, but Ichoose to do so in this picture.

This is why I painted all theelements of this crab apple tree I

wanted to capture all itscharacteristics. These differslightly between varieties of crabapples: with differences between

leaves, flowers and fruit. Adissection of flowers or fruit is often the best way to show them andtherefore I chose to paint a dissected fruit.

Obviously to paint a dissectionfrom life you have to work veryquickly. Luckily there are ways ofslightly delaying oxidisation(browning) of the apple, such asdipping the cut sections in lemon

juice. But, the apple is quite small

and hopefully there will be otherson the tree giving you theopportunity to paint from life.

Again this is where thephotograph comes in useful to findan appropriate spare!

Pencils You Will Need Faber-Castell Polychromos: 101 white, 102 cream, 103 ivory,

108 dark cadmium yellow, 283 burnt sienna, 177 walnut brown,186 terracotta, 223 deep red, 194 red violet, 225 dark red, 126permanent carmine, 168 earth green yellow, 121 geranium lake,179 bistre

Caran dAche Pablo: 371 Bluish pale Prismacolour Verithin: Carmine

See me paint the dissection on ArtTutor.com
http://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-crab-apple-dissectionhttp://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-crab-apple-dissection


13/17


www.ArtTutor.com 13

Foliage

The crab apple has relatively simple foliage, but to show those leaves botanically you need to illustrate both the upper and under-side of theleaf. You can tell the difference between the two sides as the undersideis paler and bluer than the upper side, the veins have a hint of pinkshowing on the underside as well as being raised. The veins on theupper side are indented.

Pencils You Will Need Faber-Castell Polychromos: 175 sepia, 223 deep red, 278

chrome oxide green, 172 earth green, 174 chrome green opaque,103 ivory, 205 cadmium yellow lemon, 170 may green, 249mauve, 168 earth green yellowish

Derwent Artist: 5120 Light Moss, 4140 Distant Green Caran dAche Pablo: 371 Bluish pale, 231 Lime green

See me paint the leaf on ArtTutor.com
http://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-leaves-part-1http://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-leaves-part-1http://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-leaves-part-1


14/17


www.ArtTutor.com 14

Branch and Flower

The final step is to paint theflower and branch of the crabapple.

Even if you dont want topaint the rest of the crabapple group, you might wantto have a look at this sectionparticularly if you want toknow how to paint beautiful,delicate flowers.

However, a few words of

warning; Paint the leaves first. White flowers are best done with a dark background already in

place. Remember to keep a very light touch. Nothing is whiter than the white of the paper. Only blend if absolutely necessary. The flowers are very small and delicate with very fine detail. It is easy to overdo them and difficult to undo. Be careful.

Pencils You Will Need (Flower) Faber-Castell Polychromos: 106 light chrome yellow, 174

chrome green opaque, 172 earth green, 135 light red violet, 139light violet, 119 light magenta, 232 cold grey III, 271 warm greyII, 187 burnt ochre, 188 sanguine, 283 burnt sienna, 129 pinkmadder lake, 127 pink carmine, 126 permanent carmine

Derwent Artist: 1800 Rose Pink Caran dAche Pablo: 371 Bluish pale, 015 Olive yellow Prismacolour Verithin: Carmine

Pencils You Will Need (Branch) Faber-Castell Polychromos: 175 sepia, 177 walnut brown, 180

raw umber, 186 terracotta, 230 cold grey I, 263 caput mortum violet

Derwent Artist: 4140 Distant Green


15/17


www.ArtTutor.com 15

See me paint the branch on ArtTutor.com

See me paint the blossom and flower on ArtTutor.com
http://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-branchhttp://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-flowerhttp://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-flowerhttp://www.arttutor.com/video/botanical-art-branch


16/17


www.ArtTutor.com 16

The Finished Painting

Together the three elements make up the picture of a year in the life of aMalus Gorgeous Crab Apple. But in Botanical art, there are no rules tosay that you cant just paint the bits you like best!

The key things to remember are practice and enjoyment! Practice alittle every day, working slowly botanical art is not a loose discipline!

I hope youve learnt a lot from this guide and have picked up some of theenthusiasm I have for botanical art.

And even more importantly, I hope you have enjoyed it and will go on toenjoy hours of painting lots of different pictures.


17/17

intro to botanical art

Documents